The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-10-06
A GIGANTIC MINING ENTERPRISE
A California River $50 Miles Long Turn
ed Out of Its Bed,

Ou Out " lbS Dou,
Without doubt one of the great
est mining achievements of modern
engineering is the construction of
the Big Bend Tunnel on the Feather
river, situated in Butte county, Cal
ifornia. Feather river is formed by
the North, Middle and South Forks,
which rise in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains in Pullmas county, run
ming southwestward and unite in
Butte county to form the main
Feather.
The river, including the forks, is
$50 miles long, and enters Sacra-
mento river at Vernon in Suffer
county about 20 miles above the
city of Sacramento.
1t is we'll known, among gold
miners, that the richest and most
productive gold mines of California
have been the beds of rivers, and
the Feather stands pre-emlnent
as to richness wherever it has been
possible to work it. In fact, old
miners have known it for years IN
der the name of "The Golden
Feather
Prof. Horace Q. Bdrchard, late
director of the United States Mint,
in speaking of the gold-producing
river beds of California, says:
They are the natural sluices OF
thousands of square miles of auri-
ferrous ground, the wash from which
has been distributed On the beds,
bars and benches where, by a natur-
al process Of concentration, the gold
was redeposited in such manner
that it was easily accessible to the
early miners" The bars, which al
low water are dry, are exposed to
the operation of the miners, and
from many places in the bed Of the
river-where it was possible to turn
the river out of its channel by
means Of dams and canals, or
numes-the miner soon found the
ways Of abstracting the precious
metal from the sand and gravel IL
which it rested. The Big Bend OF
| Feather river, however, whose
gravel deposits have been estima-
| ted in value from $l00,000,000 to
I$I50,000,000, has hitherto bsff1ed
he skill of man to rob it Of its
treasure. This vast amount Of
wealth has been guarded and pre-
served for ages by the minimum
constant flow of one hundred thous
and miners inches OF water rushing
through narrow canon of from
800 to 1000 feet deep, which rem
dered it impossible to wing-dam O
1ume. Yet, while nature has thu
seemingly placed impregnable bar
riers against mans encroachments
she provided, at one point at least
a way whereby these obstacle
could be overcome through the in
tervention of modern engineering
skill.
There is little stream runnin
, through Dark Canon, which emf
ties into the west branch of th
Feather and from there into To
main Feather. Dark Canon is sex
eral feet lower than the bed of tn
! main Feather, at the point wher
[ Big Bend begins. A tunnel wa
, commenced in Dark Canon and
=. bore l2x16 feet drilled through
spur of Big Bend mountain a dit
lance OF i2,0Q7 feet, or nearly tw
: and one-third miles in length, OF
4 to the mountain side OF Fealh5
T river, at the upper end Of the Benz
Just below where the upper end {
the tunnel taps the river dam WIS
constructed which is to force til
S water through the tunnel into Oar
I Canon, out of which it will flow int
the west branch and then into th
Feather again. This will leay
about fourteen miles of the rive
bed exposed to sight during tt
) season Of low water, which is fro
: seven to nine months in the year.
a This stupendous undertaking re
= CURED the services of one hundre
. men, working night and day, f'
about FIVE years and has just r
Gently been completed. Al the hea
t of the tunnel six gates of iron an
:, steel, Al by s feet, will let the wat,
e in or keep it out. In times of hie
o water the gates will be closed ar
the river will run along its cid be
to be turned out Of its course al
O. through the tunnel at low water
The past yield, from those par
of the Feather accessible to mimi
J. operations, is sufficient eviden
lie that the most san guine anticipation
/ of the projectors of this grand e
- ter prise will be fully realized. II
= famous old Cape Claim, below B
II Bend, yielded $6S0,00O in forty-tY
n working dsys, and from $500 line
IL feet of half-worked river bed.
s. fact, the river channel, both abo
W and below the Bend, has proven
self immensely rich.
The president of the Big Be
IN Tunnel and Mining Company, a
'n the largest stockholder therein,
Dr.. r. V. Pierce, who is, perhaI
- Of all others, most entitled to cree
for the successful termination
this great undertaking. Being fu
d satisfied with the feasibility of t
plan from it's inception, he has W
sn unstinting hand supplied
e funds for the prosecution of t
enormously expensive work, a
. his confidence and liberality v
> soon meet Its reward.
The doctor has been, and now
n connected with very many other
i portant matters. In the fall
lie 1877 be was elected to a seat in
New York state senate and in II
he was placed in nomination
a congress and was elected by a
cisiye majority.
lie He is president Of the Buff
Loan, Trust and Safe Deposit Ct
. pany, one Of the foremost bank
y situations in the city of Buff
> But he is perhaps best known
= president of the "W orld's Dispen
ry Medical Association and Inv
Of ids Hotel and Surgical Institut
~ This institution is situated on M
- and Washington streets, Buffalo,
Y, having frontage on b
streets. The desion of the Invsli